F&P's nasal high flow therapy in spotlight

IRVINE, Calif. - Fisher & Paykel Healthcare's Optiflow nasal high flow therapy has gained traction as a preferred treatment for COVID-19, as hospitals move away from an “early intubation and mechanical ventilation” mentality, company officials say.

“As this pandemic has evolved, nasal high flow therapy, and in particular our Optiflow system, has steadily gained increasing acceptance,” said Lewis Gradon, managing director and CEO during a recent call to discuss the company's latest financial results. “Our therapy is practically a household name among health care practitioners.”

The Optiflow helped to drive an 18% increase in revenues for fiscal year 2020 compared to 2019 (14% in constant currency terms) and a 37% increase in net profit after tax (30% in constant currency terms).

F&P now plans to take the traction it's receiving in hospitals with Optiflow and apply it to the home care setting with its myAIRVO, which is used to deliver nasal high flow therapy in the home, Gradon says.

“Our future opportunity is to translate the visible benefits of Optiflow therapy for COVID patients and respiratory patients, in general, and then demonstrate how those same benefits can be applied using myAIRVO for patients in the home,” he said.

A number of studies on the benefits of nasal high flow therapy for use in the home by COPD patients should be completed in the next few years, which should also help to accelerate growth, Gradon says.

“These have timelines of about three to five years,” he said. “We expect to see these publications, along with the experiences of treating COVID-19 patients with nasal high flow therapy in the hospital, supporting the ongoing strong growth of the home application.”

On the sleep therapy side of its business, F&P reported 9% growth in revenues for masks in constant currency terms, but Gradon cautioned about fiscal year 2021, especially the first two quarters, due to the pandemic.

“In home care, we are seeing both a lower OSA diagnosis rate and OSA mask resupply levels in the beginning of fiscal year 2021, returning to expected levels,” he said. “Home care growth for the first three months of fiscal year 2021 has, therefore, been closer to the fiscal year 2020 full-year rate.”